Site search

Tag: watch

Time was of the essence after a Massachusetts dog consumed three wristwatches — almost in their entirety.

The owners of Mocha said they rushed the dog to MSPCA’s Angell Animal Medical Center in Boston after finding a few remaining pieces of the watches — which had been inside a drawer the dog somehow opened — on the floor.

Mocha was admitted on April 16, the hospital said in a press release, and endured a three-hour endoscopic procedure which allowed the medical team to determine how much material was in her belly — and the best way to remove it.

The team was able to remove some of the leather from Mocha’s stomach using the endoscopy instruments.

As for the rest, they decided to let nature take its course, which nature did.

Over a period of several days, Mocha eliminated another pound of broken leather straps, buckles and various other metal pieces, said Dr. Zachary Crouse.

“We were especially cautious and wanted to avoid surgery—given her history,” he said.

Mocha was admitted to the animal hospital in August of 2014 after swallowing a plastic juice container lid. It obstructed her intestine and had to be surgically removed.

Angell doctors credited the quick thinking of Mocha’s owners, Michele Parkinson and Jeff Courcelle of Salem, who rushed the dog to the animal ER immediately after discovering bits and pieces of the watches on the floor of their home.

“Mocha dodged a bullet for sure and I credit her owners for getting her straight to the hospital,” said Dr. Crouse. “This could easily have turned into a life-threatening situation if they had delayed.”

“We brought her to Angell as soon as my husband saw the broken watch pieces, even though she was showing no symptoms whatsoever,” said Parkinson, who works as a nurse in the hematology department of a major area hospital.

Mocha stayed at the medical center for two days, and returned last Monday for a follow-up exam. An x-ray showed that six small pieces remain inside her, but should pass without surgical intervention.

“One thing’s for sure: we’re going to do everything we can to keep anything remotely ingestible out of her reach,” said Parkinson.

If there’s any dog breed that could be described as an “animated short,” it has to be the Boston terrier.

So it’s fitting that a Boston Terrier — an animated animated Boston terrier — is the star of “Feast,” which won the Academy Award for animated short film Sunday night.

The Disney film depicts a relationship, over the years, between a voracious puppy named Winston and the young man who feeds him.

Through the miracles of animation, this paean to doghood didn’t take 12 years to make.

“Feast” was first-time nominee Patrick Osborne’s directorial debut.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the choice of breed for the film wasn’t taken lightly:

“Because Disney has a long tradition of animated canine superstars — Pluto, Goofy, pampered cocker spaniel Lady, Tramp and the 101 Dalmatians, among them — Osborne watched the studio’s films to make sure he wasn’t repeating a character. He also wanted a dog that wasn’t too big and that had a light-dark pattern that would make its movements more visible.

“The compact, intelligent Boston terrier — a.k.a. the American Gentleman, known for its amusing, bright and friendly personality — fit the bill.”

One of the story artists working on the film had Boston terriers, Osborne said, and brought them in so that their motions and behavior could be observed.

The movie chronicles Winston’s growth, and the coming of age of the boy who owns him.

“I thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if we saw a puppy go through from being a young dog to grown up below the table as part of the family and enjoying these meals together?'” Osborne told The Times.

For $1.99 ($2.99 for HD) you can watch it in its six-minute entirety on YouTube.

Osborne said he grew up with dachshunds. “They are all gone now, but there is a little bit of them alive with the short, because of my memory of how they moved and acted.”

While he doesn’t have a dog now, he said he felt like he had one a dog during the year he worked on the film about Winston and his eating habits.

They call them “doglers,” or at least the New York Post does — dogless people who like to watch and enjoy other people’s dogs.

“There’s a hidden club of us,” said Hannah Spencer, 28, of Brooklyn, who uses her morning runs as an excuse to drop by Fort Greene Park and watch the dogs.

“I know my own levels of responsibility and I just can’t have a dog,” said Spencer. “So you can get this vicarious pleasure out of watching other people’s dogs.”

It was Spencer, the Post noted, who coined the word “dogle.”

She says dogless New Yorkers dogle, or ogle dogs, because their hectic lifestyles and tiny apartments prevent them from actually owning one.

“We just don’t have the time or the space to provide a dog a good home right now,” said Donald Cutler, 27, who regularly checks out the Carl Schurz dog park on the upper East Side. “Watching dogs is a nice way to get outside of the hustle that is the city. Dog parks are one of the nicer places in New York.”

Greer Griffith, 64, the manager of Animal Assisted Therapy for the ASPCA, is not surprised by what the Post officially labeled a trend, which is what the news media call phenomena that they haven’t previously caught on to.

“There are studies that show that animal-assisted therapy brings people out of depression, lowers blood pressure and can be tremendously helpful in dealing with loneliness at extended-care facilities,” said Griffith.

“It confirms what I already know about dogs,” she says. “They change the energy around them and make people smile.”

But maybe the best part about dogling, the Post noted, is that it’s all the perks — and none of the poop.

In case you get tired of watching your own dog — and if you ‘re like me, you never do — there’s always the Internet, where a visit to Ustream.tv will hook you up with a live cam show of these Jack Russell puppies, and much more.

You can check in with Madi, a sick Havanese (her temperature has dropped), a litter of Shiba Inus from San Francisco, some mastiff pups from Idaho, a gaggle of Chihuahuas in San Antonio and, of course, Grandma Beth’s bulldogs, who, I can report, made quick work of their dinner last night.

In addition to watching, you can also chat with fellow dog watchers.

All in all, as of last night anyway, there were 41 dog cams to choose from — many, if not most, of which seem aimed at selling pups, as opposed to just warming the cockles of your heart.

The Jack Russell show takes place just north of Syracuse, New York, and features a mom and her five pups. The father, Ollie, makes an occasional appearance.

The website offers about 75 other animal cams — everything from birds and fish to goats and squirrels.

The guide lists the products, the chemicals they contain and the risks they pose. It’s part of a NRDC’s new Green Paws campaign that helps consumers find the safest flea-control products that won’t endanger pets or children.

NRDC released a report yesterday warning of dangerously high levels of two carcinogenic neurotoxins on pet fur after the use of ordinary flea collars. The organization filed a lawsuit against companies including Petsmart, Petco and Sergeants; and it has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to ban the use of the chemicals in flea collars.